Cyclophosphamide and Fludarabine Followed by Vaccine Therapy, Gene-Modified White Blood Cell Infusions, and Aldesleukin in Treating Patients With Metastatic Melanoma

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Diagnosis of metastatic melanoma
* HLA-A\*0201-positive disease
* Measurable disease
* Refractory to standard therapy, including high-dose aldesleukin therapy

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

* 18 and over

Performance status

* ECOG 0-1

Life expectancy

* More than 3 months

Hematopoietic

* Absolute neutrophil count \> 1,000/mm\^3
* Platelet count \> 100,000/mm\^3
* Hemoglobin \> 8.0 g/dL
* Lymphocyte count \> 500/mm\^3
* WBC \> 3,000/mm\^3
* No coagulation disorder

Hepatic

* ALT and AST \< 3 times upper limit of normal
* Bilirubin ≤ 2.0 mg/dL (\< 3.0 mg/dL for patients with Gilbert's disease)
* Hepatitis B antigen negative
* Hepatitis C antibody negative (unless antigen negative)

Renal

* Creatinine ≤ 1.6 mg/dL

Cardiovascular

* No myocardial infarction
* No cardiac arrhythmias
* No cardiac ischemia
* LVEF ≥ 45% by stress cardiac test\* (for patients ≥ 50 years of age OR those with a history of EKG abnormalities)
* No other major cardiovascular illness by stress thallium or comparable test NOTE: \*Stress thallium, stress MUGA, dobutamine echocardiogram, or other stress test

Pulmonary

* No major respiratory illness
* No obstructive or restrictive pulmonary disease
* FEV\_1 ≥ 60% of predicted on pulmonary function test\*
* DLCO ≥ 60% predicted (for total-body irradiation cohort) NOTE: \*For patients with a prolonged history of cigarette smoking or symptoms of respiratory dysfunction

Immunologic

* HIV negative
* No major immune system illness
* No active systemic infection or opportunistic infection
* No primary immunodeficiency (e.g., autoimmune colitis or Crohn's disease)
* No secondary immunodeficiency (e.g., due to chemotherapy or radiotherapy)
* No history of severe immediate hypersensitivity reaction to study drugs

Other

* Not pregnant or nursing
* Negative pregnancy test
* Fertile patients must use effective contraception during and for 4 months after completion of study treatment
* Must sign a durable power of attorney

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

* See Disease Characteristics
* Recovered from prior immunotherapy
* Prior immunization to melanoma antigens allowed

  * Progressive disease during prior immunization allowed
* Prior cellular therapy, including vector transduction with or without myeloablation, allowed
* More than 6 weeks since prior anticytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) monoclonal antibody (MDX-010) therapy
* No prior anti-CTLA-4 antibody unless a post anti-CTLA-4 antibody treatment colonoscopy was normal by biopsy

Chemotherapy

* Recovered from prior chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy

* No concurrent systemic steroids

Radiotherapy

* Recovered from prior radiotherapy
* No prior significant mediastinal or lung radiation (for total-body irradiation cohort)

Surgery

* Not specified

Other

* More than 4 weeks since prior systemic therapy and recovered